Bells by Himring

Bells

In my dreams I heard faintly ringing afar

the fabled bells of fair Valimar...

Indis has a little too much self-control to wince. Makalaure notices anyway.

‘You don’t like the sound of the bells?’

Indis hesitates. She avoids alluding to cultural differences, considering it risky, but Makalaure’s interest seems genuine, even friendly.

‘It is because I have only just come from Valmar. The bells there are different; they play tunes.’

‘Like a carillon?’

Maglor is thinking like a musician.

Indis smiles. ‘Yes.’ She sings a few notes, to demonstrate one of the simpler tunes played by Vanyarin bells.

‘But, now, when I go to Valmar’, she confesses, ‘at first, I miss Noldorin change ringing!’

Vingilote rises into the evening sky.

In Valmar, all the bells ring to greet her, playing a multitude of tunes, all in complex harmony.

In Tirion, the bells ring peal after peal of mathematically interlocking rhythms.

In the tower of Elwing, a single bell tolls and tolls and fall silent. 

Chapter End Notes

Inspired by the difference between the English approach to bell-ringing and traditions in some other countries like Belgium and the Netherlands.

Indis and Maglor have previously interacted in this story of mine (which, I think, is set later): Tirion Flash Mob